Here are some of the post-game reactions from the 112-103 victory by the Dallas Mavericks over the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the 2011 NBA Finals Thursday night. Dallas leads the best-of-seven series, 3-2.
Dallas guard Jason Terry
Q. Jet, you've really stepped up in the fourth quarter of the last two games, but specifically tonight those three-pointers closing it out, how much did you take the responsibility on instead of just putting it on Dirk?
JASON TERRY: It's my job. All season long, ever since I've been a Maverick, I've been the guy in the fourth quarter they depended on to either make plays or make shots. So I really relish in that role. Regardless of what's going on throughout three quarters of the game, in the fourth quarter I know I'm depended on to come through. Thank God I was able to do that again tonight.
Q. Jason, you said you needed to treat Game 5 like it was Game 7. Now, do you feel you need to treat Game 6 like it is Game 7 in order to avoid the actual Game 7?
JASON TERRY: Sounds repetitive, but yes. Game 6 is Game 7 for us. We want to play like there's no tomorrow. If we do that, I have no doubt in my mind we can be successful. We must come out aggressively.
Tonight was great. We came out offensively and found our rhythm. Defensively we took a step backwards. We didn't have the same focus on certain areas in the game for 48 minutes. And so I said if we can get to 100, we like our chances. We did that, but we definitely don't want to give them 100 points. Because then it leaves the window of opportunity for them to get a win.
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra
Q. What's the feeling of being one game away from elimination?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: We look at it the other way. We're going home, and we wouldn't have it any other way than the hard way. This is an opportunity for us. That's why you play a seven-game series. You got to play it out. And this is where we feel comfortable.
Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki
Q. Dirk, can you talk about being one win away from a championship?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, I mean that was a big win for us, obviously. We didn't want to go to Miami and give them basically two shots to close us out. So kept plugging there in the fourth. So definitely a big win for us. And now we have to go down there and basically approach Sunday's game as Game 7. You don't want to give this great team any hope or anything.
So we got to play more of the same and keep attacking and we'll see what happens Sunday.
Miami's Dwyane Wade
Q. Dwyane, can you take us through your injury and the challenge you had getting back on the floor both times.
DWYANE WADE: You know, I'm not going to do that. I don't talk about injuries. It was unfortunate I had to leave the game. But I came back and I finished it.
Q. Was it really hard to play through that?DWYANE WADE: No, once you're on the court, you're on the court. I don't have no excuses. I was on the court. I was able to help my team get an opportunity to win. And I'll be fine Sunday.
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle
Q. Rick, can we get your thoughts just being one win away from a world championship now.
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Well, we've got to just continue to work the process, and for us the process is being in a stance, being tied together, being really tight defensively, because they're great players and put unbelievable pressure on you.
We understand where we're at, but we also understand what got us here, and that is making sure we stay in the moment.
Q. Going back to Miami, sure you have two opportunities to win one, but talk about how important it is to get that first one and not have it go to a seventh game on their court.
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Again, I just would say to you that we're going to stay in the moment and we're going to just keep studying how we play our best. We're going to play whistle to whistle. I heard that term. Been watching the hockey series. A lot of the people in the hockey world use that term. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to try to win each possession and just take it one at a time.
An NBA Finals is a 16-day deal or whatever it is. And it's very long, but somehow or other it goes by fast. By staying in the moment and just really focusing on what's important for us, that helps us.